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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Considering a Grain Cart

I appreciate the stickers that are applied to equipment, because when it comes to equipment and many other things on a farm, it is wise to be cautious.

We are looking at grain carts.

Even though it is June, we are beginning to prepare for harvest.

The winter wheat will be ready in a few weeks and the equipment is being evaluated.

We replaced our faithful tractor the CaseIH 9170 with a CaseIH-Steiger MX 385 earlier this year. Click on the link to review that story. Now we are looking at replacing the faithful 20 year old grain cart.

Buying equipment in the computer age has changed things a little. Before we make a trip to a lot, auction, or answer an add in the paper, we do research on the Internet. Armed with information gleaned in the virtual world, we come back to reality to look at what is available in our area.

Robbie has long been our grain cart driver, so his opinion is sought in the live search.

He and Farmer Fred look all the way around each one they consider.

Then crawl up and under the cart. They check structure, flighting, apparent ease of maintenance, and features.

Load capacity varies. The trend is to larger equipment and we could used a larger model than we have. Farmer Fred doesn't want too much weight driving across the field compacting the soil, so how big is too big? There are many decisions.

It is a little like buying a car. You want all the features you need at the best price.

Augers fold in different directions and across various exterior surfaces. Every brand has their own distinct system.